Dave Bakke: Chatham man built bowling alleys around the world

Chatham's Jim Branthaver has an unusual job. He builds bowling alleys — or he used to before the bowling alley construction business dried up. He owns Jim Branthaver's Bowling Services.

DAVE BAKKE

Chatham's Jim Branthaver has an unusual job. He builds bowling alleys — or he used to before the bowling alley construction business dried up. He owns Jim Branthaver's Bowling Services.

Now, that might not seem too unusual of a job until you add that "he builds bowling alleys all over the world." Jim has been held by the mafia in Russia, was arrested in China, got caught up in a shooting incident on the West Bank and had a project delayed by too much French wine

He started in Laramie, Wyo., where he handled the international business for an alley construction company “because,” he says, “I failed at bowling.” Right: he wanted to be a pro, but didn’t have the scores.

“So I had to go to work,” he says.

His parents lived in Chatham. His dad was Frank Branthaver, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service for 32 years. He was at Capital Airport in Springfield from 1948 to 1971 and gave weather reports on Springfield radio stations.

Jim returned to Chatham from Wyoming just over 20 years ago.

Most of his projects did not land in the gutter. Others did. Here are some of his most memorable experiences:

*Held by Russian mafia — He had a job building some lanes in Moscow. At first, the guy he was working for seemed very nice. They saw the sights in Moscow and had dinner together often. Things abruptly changed.

“This was February,” says Jim, “and he told me I had to get it done by March 1 or I would never leave Russia.” After that, instead of dinner with the owner, there were guards escorting Jim. “They would come and get me every morning and bring me back every night,” he says.

Each day, he smuggled some of his belongings out of his hotel under his winter coat. One day, he asked the guards for permission to go across the street to get some orange juice. He never came back. He took a taxi to the American embassy, and embassy personnel got him out of the country.

Did he get paid?

“Not a cent,” he says. “I lost big money over there.”

*Tipsy in France — Jim was adding four lanes onto an existing 12-lane alley in Lyons.

“The owners would take us out to lunch at this winery,” he says. “The winery served wine like it was water. I would have to take an hour’s nap every day before I could get back to work. It took a couple of weeks longer to finish that little four-lane bowling alley than it should have.”

*Arrested in China — “That one made 27 newspapers and the Bowling Journal magazine,” Jim says.

His wife at the time (his ex-wife now) was Chinese. One night, she got into a heated argument with the owners of the bowling alley Jim was building. Since it was all in Chinese, Jim was adrift.

“We got to the hotel, and she said the owners had been told I would use new equipment,” Jim relates. “I put in used equipment. So they wanted $80,000 for the difference, and I wasn’t allowed to leave town until they got their $80,000.”

Jim left anyway. At least he tried to. He had another job in another town and grabbed a cab to get there.

“They pulled us over about a block away,” he says. “They took me to jail, but I didn’t go ‘to jail.’ I sat with the jailer. He says what do you want to drink? I said I’d have a beer. He got us both some.”

Eventually, American officials in China, with the help of a U.S. senator and the State Department, got him out of trouble once again and back home.

“That’s another time the embassy did a really good job,” says Jim.

*Boiled in Israel — He has built quite a few alleys in Israel. This particular time, he was headed from Jerusalem to Tiberias, which is on the Sea of Galilee. For some reason, his group cut through the West Bank to get there. Not a good move.

“There was an army convoy ahead of us,” Jim says. “And somebody fired on it. They sent convoys through the West Bank all the time. This was a bunch of Jeeps.”

All hell broke loose at that point. All West Bank traffic, including Jim’s car, was stopped. Helicopters searching for the gunmen choppered over their heads, and nobody could move. It took six hours in the broiling heat before Jim and the other traffic was allowed to continue.

He doesn’t know if they ever found the gunmen.

Jim is 69 years old now and pretty much done with trotting the globe. But that’s OK. He already has a lifetime of stories.

“In the ‘90s,” Jim says, “I spent all my time overseas, mostly in China. They love bowling. I was building two and three at a time.

“I’ve seen everything and been everywhere,” he says with a laugh. “That’s pretty interesting for a guy with a stupid trade like mine.”

Know of something quirky? Emotional? Funny? Inspiring? Dave is your man and his deadline is always near. Pitch your idea to him at dave.bakke@sj-r.com or at (217)788-1541. His column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. To read more, visit www.sj-r.com/bakke.

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